Ovarian carcinoma is the fourth most frequent cancer in women in the United States. It is newly diagnosed in 24,000 women each year, of whom 13,600 will eventually die of their disease. It is now the most common fatal gynecological malignancy, and over the past three decades, there has been a steady slow rise in ovarian cancer incidence. Unfortuanetely, only about 30 percent of ovarian carcinoma are localized and amenable to complete surgical resection at the time of their initial presentation.